The present disclosure relates generally to building management systems. The present disclosure relates more particularly to systems and methods for using a wireless interface module to allow for wireless communication from various BMS monitoring devices to one or more BMS controllers.
A building management system (BMS) is, in general, a system of devices configured to control, monitor, and manage equipment in or around a building or building area. A BMS can include a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system, a security system, a lighting system, a fire alerting system, another system that is capable of managing building functions or devices, or any combination thereof. BMS devices may be installed in any environment (e.g., an indoor area or an outdoor area) and the environment may include any number of buildings, spaces, zones, rooms, or areas. A BMS may include a variety of devices (e.g., HVAC devices, controllers, chillers, fans, sensors, etc.) configured to facilitate monitoring and controlling the building space. Throughout this disclosure, such devices are referred to as BMS devices or building equipment.
Currently, the wireless capabilities of wireless networks, and specifically ZigBee wireless networks, is that the wireless network is limited to units (i.e. monitoring devices) with dedicated sensing built-in, such as thermostats and other sensors. These sensors measure attributes of a BMS system such as temperature, humidity, and occupancy. However, many non-wireless sensors, such as pressure sensors, current sensors, etc. still require a hard-wired connection back to a controller. In certain situation, this can require significant cost to install and maintain certain sensors. For example, many building management systems require two-thirds static pressure line measurements inside different portions of the HVAC ducting. This requires a pressure sensor to be placed within the HVAC ducting approximately two-thirds of the length of the ducting from a respective air supply unit, such as an air handling unit (AHU). This can require substantial material and labor cost to install the sensor, and wire the sensor back to a BMS controller. It would therefore be advantageous to be able to adapt the current wired sensors and other monitoring devices to have wireless communication capabilities.